History Music / KidNPlay

[[caption-width-right:350:They ain't gonna hurt nobody. From left: Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin.]]

Originally getting their starts in rival rap groups The Turnout Brothers and The Super Lovers, they joined forces after their respective groups dissolved in 1984. Backed by their producer Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor and DJ Wiz, they started out as the "Fresh Force Crew", and initially released response records under that name, before switching to "Kid 'N Play" by 1987. In 1988, they found their first taste of success with their debut LP ''2 Hype'', released on Select Records. Though it only reached #96 on the Billboard 200, it spawned three rap hits with "Gittin' Funky", "Rollin' With Kid 'N Play", and the title track, helping push the album to Gold certification, and garnered praise for their pop-friendly, Go-Go influenced sound and choreography, and infamy for their visual trademarks: Kid rocked an outrageously large hi-top fade, while Play regularly wore eight-ball jackets.

Around the same time, the duo were tapped by Creator/NewLineCinema for the lead roles of the first ''House Party'' film after Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince turned it down.[[note]]Ironically, Kid 'N Play also turned down {{Creator/NBC}}'s offer for a sitcom that went on to become ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''.[[/note]] Released in 1990, it cast Kid 'N Play as [[WildTeenParty teenagers trying to throw a giant blowout]], all while avoiding both their parents and the cops. Featuring Creator/MartinLawrence, Creator/TishaCampbell, fellow musicians Full Force, and Robin Harris taking the role of Kid's father, it was a critical and commercial success, and set the gold standard for other teen party movies for years to come. The duo wasted no time capitalizing off their newfound exposure, and released both a soundtrack album for the movie, and their sophomore album ''Funhouse'', the latter earning them their second Gold-certified record, and their first #1 rap hit with the title track, and even got their own Saturday morning cartoon and a tie-in comic-book, courtesy of Creator/MarvelComics.

Unfortunately, a combination of overexposure within such a short timespan, and the rise of GangstaRap all but destroying the credibility of almost every pop-friendly rap act during the 90s, led to Kid 'N Play losing a lot of popularity and goodwill by 1991. To the duo's credit, they were well aware their current shtick was starting to wear out its welcome among the masses, and were also starting to tire of pandering to pop audiences as well. So they decided if they couldn't be gangsters, there was nothing stopping them from taking the [[ConsciousHipHop conscious route]] instead.

Thus came their third album, ''Face the Nation''; an attempt to take a more serious approach and increased creative input, while not entirely abandoning the dance tracks that made them popular. Unfortunately, the album had the effect of alienating their remaining pop audience, and was mocked by the hardcore crowd, leading to the album and it's singles bricking, save for "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody", which became their first and only single to crossover onto the Hot 100 at #51, as well as becoming another rap #1. Their second and third films 1991's ''House Party 2'' and 1992's ''Class Act'', [[CriticalDissonance while commercially successful, were blasted by critics]], and they were reduced to only appearing on soundtracks as soon as ''Class Act'' hit theaters, before getting dropped by Select Records in 1994.

After ''House Party 3'', Kid and Play split in 1995 to focus on different ventures. Play became a born-again Christain, and became a producer for Christian hip hop projects, while Kid continued focusing on acting and music, both to limited success, and later branched off to stand-up comedy, as well as voice acting with ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''. After 2001, the duo would make sporadic reunion appearances, before reuniting for good in 2009, and continue to tour frequently.

Around the same time, the duo were tapped by Creator/NewLineCinema for the lead roles of the first ''House Party'' film after Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince turned it down.[[note]]Ironically, they also turned down {{Creator/NBC}}'s offer for a sitcom that went on to become ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''.[[/note]] Released in 1990, it cast Kid 'N Play as [[WildTeenParty teenagers trying to throw a giant blowout]], all while avoiding both their parents and the cops. Featuring Creator/MartinLawrence, Creator/TishaCampbell, fellow musicians Full Force, and Robin Harris taking the role of Kid's father, it was a critical and commercial success, and set the gold standard for other teen party movies for years to come. The duo wasted no time capitalizing off their newfound exposure, and released both a soundtrack album for the movie, and their sophomore album ''Funhouse'', the latter earning them their second Gold-certified record, and their first #1 rap hit with the title track, and even got their own Saturday morning cartoon and a tie-in comic-book, courtesy of Creator/MarvelComics.

--->'''Hurby:''' Yo, what are y'all gonna do with this shit, man? I could get in trouble with these tapes man!\\

* VocalTagTeam: Trope image source[[note]]the comics based on them, actually[[/note]]. They frequently trade lines on their songs almost seamlessly when not doing whole verses between themselves.

* VocalTagTeam: They frequently trade lines on their songs almost seamlessly when not doing whole verses between themselves.

Around the same time, the duo were tapped by Creator/NewLineCinema for the lead roles of the first ''House Party'' film after Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince turned it down.[[note]]Ironically, this happened after they turned down Creator/NBC's offer for a sitcom that went on to become Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir.[[/note]] Released in 1990, it cast Kid 'N Play as [[WildTeenParty teenagers trying to throw a giant blowout]], all while avoiding both their parents and the cops. Featuring Creator/MartinLawrence, Tisha Campbell, fellow musicians Full Force, and Robin Harris taking the role of Kid's father, it was a critical and commercial success, and set the gold standard for other teen party movies for years to come. The duo wasted no time capitalizing off their newfound exposure, and released both a soundtrack album for the movie, and their sophomore album ''Funhouse'', the latter earning them their second Gold-certified record, and their first #1 rap hit with the title track, and even got their own Saturday morning cartoon and a tie-in comic-book, courtesy of Creator/MarvelComics.

Around the same time, the duo were tapped by Creator/NewLineCinema for the lead roles of the first ''House Party'' film after Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince turned it down. Released in 1990, it cast Kid 'N Play as [[WildTeenParty teenagers trying to throw a giant blowout]], all while avoiding both their parents and the cops. Featuring Creator/MartinLawrence, Tisha Campbell, fellow musicians Full Force, and Robin Harris taking the role of Kid's father, it was a critical and commercial success, and set the gold standard for other teen party movies for years to come. The duo wasted no time capitalizing off their newfound exposure, and released both a soundtrack album for the movie, and their sophomore album ''Funhouse'', the latter earning them their second Gold-certified record, and their first #1 rap hit with the title track, and even got their own Saturday morning cartoon and a tie-in comic-book, courtesy of Creator/MarvelComics.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: They intentionally subvert the "[[https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/pal-standards/ Parental Advisory]]" stickers in their album ''Funhouse'' by creative use of interludes. The lyrics themselves are completely devoid of curses or suggestive lyrics, but the studio outtakes and conversations used as interludes are definitely not suitable for children. Despite this, ''Funhouse'' has never received a "Parental Advisory" sticker either; which was even {{lampshade|hanging}}d in one of the interludes when the duo and their producer Hurby Azor were going over the tapes:

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* EightiesHair: While hi-top fades were fairly common among most rappers in their heyday, Kid's fade was so enormous, it actually flirted with being real-life AnimeHair. Prior to switching to dreadlocks, the height of his fade was between ''10-12 inches'' at its peak.

* Band Toon: The duo along with their dj Wiz and producer Hurb were animated as teenagers in their own Saturday Morning Cartoon. Kid n Play were in the live action sequences as their cartoon counterparts had voice actors.

* OneSteveLimit: Enforced. Because both of their real names are "Christopher", they almost always refer to each other by the rap names. This was even carried over into ''House Party'' series, where Play was renamed "Peter".

* GenreShift: Not ''quite'' as drastic as Music/MCHammer's later shift to GangstaRap, but it was still badly executed nonetheless. The group attempted to take the conscious rap approach with ''Face the Nation'' out of a desire to stop pandering to pop audiences, and to avoid being rendered obsolete by the rising popularity of the hardcore scene. Not a bad idea on paper, but their overly preachy lyrics, and the continued presence of pop-adjacent tracks in-between the sociopolitical commentary led to them failing to attract an audience %% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* GenreShift: Not ''quite'' as drastic as Music/MCHammer's later shift to GangstaRap, but it was still badly executed nonetheless. The group attempted to take the conscious rap approach with ''Face the Nation'' out of a desire to stop pandering to pop audiences, and to avoid being rendered obsolete by the rising popularity of the hardcore scene. Not a bad idea on paper, but their overly preachy lyrics, and the continued presence of pop-adjacent tracks in-between the sociopolitical commentary led to them failing to attract an audience from either scene.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The majority of the studio interludes on ''Funhouse'' definitely ain't PG compared to the album, mostly owing to them being informal conversations recorded during the studio sessions. This was even lampshaded in one of the skits:
--> '''Hurby:''' Yo, what are y'all gonna do with this shit, man? I could get in trouble with these tapes man!\\
'''Kid:''' It goes on the damn record, in between the thing, man! The shit we tried to do on the last one!\\
'''Play:''' The only things you don't put on the tape is when Hurby comes into the room, 'cause whatever's on there is scandalous shit!\\
'''Hurby:''' Maybe...

---

* OneSteveLimit: Enforced. Because both of their real names are "Christopher", they almost always refer to each other by the rap names. This was even carried over into ''House Party'' series, where Play was renamed "Peter".

* OlderThanTheyLook: Kid was pushing thirty when he and Play became stars, but his clean-shaven babyface would make you think he was in his early twenties. This helped him convincingly play a teenager in ''House Party''.